In a special session of the Los Alamitos City Council on Monday night, newly elected council member Richard Murphy resigned as the Mayor Pro Tem to defer the position to council member Gerri Graham-Mejia.
In a special session of the Los Alamitos City Council on Monday night, newly elected council member Richard Murphy resigned as the Mayor Pro Tem to defer the position to council member Gerri Graham-Mejia.
After a closed session meeting of the council, it was also announced that City Manager Angie Avery would be retiring effective March 1. Avery had taken over the city manager position just over a year ago, replacing Jeff Stewart.
At the last council meeting of 2012, the council reorganized and elected Warren Kusumoto at the mayor for 2013. Murphy was elected mayor pro tem and Mejia expressed her disappointment at having not had the opportunity to serve as mayor or mayor pro tem since the positions are usually rotated among the council.
“I’d like to thank Richard for taking such a large step to do something that I I’ve always said I thought was important,” Graham-Mejia said. “In the past we’ve always had a rotation, each of the council members has the opportunity to serve.”
After the nomination of Graham-Mejia by Murphy she was voted in as mayor pro tem with a 5-0 approval.
The council was also scheduled to discuss possible approval of a new contract for city employees, but at the advice of the city attorney, they postponed the issue until the next regularly scheduled council meeting on Jan.22.
The issue is set to give city employees a salary increase, which the staff reports says they have not received since 2006. The report also notes that employees have made other concessions such as furlough days to help address the city’s fiscal needs.
The report goes on to note that while the employees will potentially receive a nine percent salary increase, employees will also pay an eight percent contribution to their PERS retirement fund, which corresponds with other pension reforms.
The contract also takes into account salary adjustments based upon market surveys and performance as approved by council.
“The goal is to reward excellent performance, retain high-performing employees, recruit competitively, but remain fiscally prudent,” the report reads.
The council is scheduled to have a full discussion of the item at its Jan. 22 meeting, with the opportunity for public comment.
Formal city clerk appointment
In other business, the council unanimously approved the appointment of Windmera Quintanar as Los Alamitos City Clerk. The city has been without a city clerk since the August 2011 resignation of former city clerk Adria Jimenez. City manager Angie Avery has been acting in the position, but Avery noted that Quintanar has been doing all of the work.
Quintanar has also completed the training necessary to obtain a Certified Municipal Clerk designation and staff reports indicate that she has performed well in the job, including the duties required during the November elections.
“both the city manager and the interim deputy city clerk have been impressed and pleased with Ms. Quintanar’s performance of the day-to-day operations of the city clerk’s office,” the report states.